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How to Get the Most Out of a Parent-Teacher Conference

How to Get the Most Out of a Parent-Teacher Conference

Parent-Teacher conference time makes many parents nervous, but it does not need to be this way. Conferences are not an attack on your child, nor is it a time to put all the flaws of your child on display. Instead, shift your perspective. The question you should be asking is, “How can the teacher and I come together for the benefit of my child?” Here’s how to view Parent-Teacher conferences in a positive light.

Teacher will be held accountable for teaching curriculum

When teachers start to explain all the standards that your child will learn in class for the coming year, it may be overwhelming! From the parent’s perspective, there are a lot of concepts that your child will learn. However, the flip side of this is that the teacher is actually outlining all the teaching standards by which he or she will be held accountable for teaching. This is the teacher’s commitment to you and your child. [Read more…]

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Preschoolers and Natural Disasters

Preschoolers and Natural Disasters

California and several other states have struggled with significant natural disasters during the last two months. Preschoolers can become very fearful when hearing about these disasters. A parents’ responsibility to preschoolers is to assure them that their parents are going to work towards keeping them safe and secure. Parents in the midst of disasters typically try to reassure their children and move them to safety. Ideally, parents can provide their children with daily routines that establish a secure and stable environment.

Help Others

During and after disasters, parents can help their preschoolers learn how to support others less fortunate. Strategies parents can use to help their preschoolers give back to others include:

  1. Children can give their extra toys, clothes, and art supplies to a collection bin for survivors who have lost everything.
  2. Children can learn how to collect for a cause when trick or treating or as part of a Thanksgiving Drive.
  3. Preschoolers can attend a service day at a local school where students organize supplies for families who have lost basic needs.
  4. Preschoolers can meet families who have lost their homes by sharing a meal in their home or a picnic in the park with a new friend.
  5. If a family has an extra vacation home or space on their property, they can offer that home or space as a respite to a family in need.
  6. If a family lives between two houses, one house can be rented cheaply to a family who has lost their home.
  7. Your child’s preschool or church can sponsor a fundraising event to buy new backpacks filled with school supplies, craft projects, and gift cards for necessities that can be given to the school’s children who have lost their homes.
  8. Schools can highlight the culture of giving by organizing culturally sensitive assemblies with local agencies and churches. The preschoolers can participate by helping with the distribution of donated gifts to the school’s families in need.
  9. The children can create cards and write messages of appreciation and gratitude to families receiving gifts and the first responders.
  10. Preschoolers can increase their empathy for each other by teaching them how to help a child that has fallen off a swing or hurts himself while playing on the playground.

[Read more…]

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5 Things Parents Should Know About Assessment

5 Things Parents Should Know About Assessments

1. Tests and Assessments Are Not the Same

A test examines a student’s knowledge, understanding, and skills to determine what level of learning has been reached. It generally results in a numerical or letter grade.

Assessments involves gathering, analyzing, and responding to a student’s strengths and misconceptions about their learning. It includes feedback to the learner and also informs the teacher’s practice.

An analogy would be your BMI that provides a number but not a health analysis or fitness plan. Sometimes we need a test and sometimes learning requires assessment. [Read more…]

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Finding Help for Academic Needs

Finding Help for Academic Needs

For some students, the start of school is an exhilarating feeling – new teacher, new friends, new subjects to learn. For other kids, the start of school brings about dread and despair – for all the same reasons! As a parent, how can you support your kids who are facing academic challenges?

Set up a consistent place and time to do homework

Kids thrive on structure. When they know what to expect, they feel safe. Set up a schedule where they know it is homework time. Have a place for them to complete assignments, whether it be in their room or on the kitchen table while you’re setting up for dinner. If the kids are going to grandma’s home or to an afterschool day care program, make sure everyone knows that getting homework done is a priority. [Read more…]

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How to Reduce School Day Stress

How to Reduce School Day Stress

The school year has started and now you feel exhausted. What are 10 quick strategies to improve your outlook on life and get through the long weeks of driving kids to schools, coordinating activities, and helping with homework?

10 Strategies to Reduce Immediate Stress

  1. Get a handle on your life by picking up household clutter each day. Your children can share this activity as one of their responsibilities. Then you can truly relax.
  2. Do something for yourself that you enjoy. This may include hiking, playing tennis, swimming, exercising, window shopping, or reading a book.
  3. Self-Reflect on the beauty and wonders in your life. Reflective activities include meditation, journaling, walking or relaxing in a natural setting, listening to music, or reading reflective thoughts for the day.
  4. Pamper yourself with a massage or by taking the time for a bubble bath or a hot shower.
  5. Get together with friends and share life’s joys, challenges, and brainstorm solutions to daily problems.
  6. Embellish your hobby and take the time to enjoy it. This can include attending seminars, classes, journaling, and writing blogs.
  7. Pursue your dream. If you have not taken the time to complete college, take a course, change jobs, or become active in your community. Start taking baby steps to fulfill your career and self-growth dreams.
  8. Give back to the community. It is very difficult to take care of others all day long. Taking time for a purpose greater than yourself or your family can be very rewarding. Some parents become active in a school committee while others take their children with them to clean the beaches or plant a tree.
  9. Find your spiritual center through nature, religion, or a cause greater than yourself.
  10. Stay humble and always give more than you take from the world.

[Read more…]

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